Beginning life as a sludgey, stonery, doomy kind of band from the Grand Est area of France; Crown soon mastered the art of playing this genre, but let’s face it, this is a genre that is crammed full of bands like a can of doom sardines and it really does take something special to stand out. That spotlight now turns and falls on Crown for their third album, the aptly titled ‘The End of All Things’.
Such a prophetic name for things to come as ‘The End…’ literally sounds nothing like anything that has come before from Crown and yes… Thank fuck! The world does not need anymore two bit doom bands, but what it does need is this new release from Crown. This is a release that wakes up from a hangover and immediately begins to reassess its life as the band embrace something that is more akin to Gothic electronica and industrial. There is a real magic to this album which invokes Nine Inch Nails at the peak of their powers, ‘The End…’ is dark and brooding, emotive and enrapturing, but it isn’t an album stuck in 1996; there is something very contemporary here and whilst it may not sound like it, there are subtle nods to the likes of Arab Strap, Boards of Canada and Swans delivered through a production that brought a multitude of accolades the way of Bring Me the Horizon with their smash hit ‘Amo’. However, the final track ‘Utopia’ does reek of Florence and the Machine and wouldn’t be missed if it was cut off, put in the machine and turned into sausage meat.
There is something insidious and infectious about ‘The End…’ it is really difficult to actually turn it off, it is massively enjoyable, it has a huge replayability and even passing fans of NIN may find themselves taking a punt on this wonderful release.
